Based on the latest projections, you could fit all of the tourists who will arrive in Wrangell by state ferry this summer into a single Boeing 737.

A decade ago, it would have taken more than a dozen 737s to bring all of the visitors to town.

“Deep reductions in Alaska Marine Highway System service resulted in a 92% decline in ferry-based independent tourism over the past decade,” is how the polite author described the numbers in the Wrangell Visitor Economy 2025 report for the borough.

A not-so-polite writer might have said it differently: “Years of political mismanagement and interference, bad decisions and budget cuts, fewer voyages, a fleet of aging vessels and a current governor disinterested in the state ferry system have decimated service to coastal communities.”

Travelers aboard the state ferries never rivaled cruise ship passenger numbers but they were an important part of the summer tourism economy throughout Southeast for decades. The visitors spent multiple nights in towns along the way, usually spending more money than day-trippers from cruise ships.

No business lived off the revenue from ferry travelers, but residents could tell when the ships were in town by the line of RVs, campers, cars and walk-ons that made their way off the ferry, up the ramp and into town.

The Wrangell visitor economy report estimates 2,100 summer ferry visitors landed in Wrangell in 2014. The estimate for this year is 160.

“The community had focused on ferry tourism — visitors who would spend multiple days and nights in the community, taking several high-end tours — but reduced and unattractive ferry schedules due to budget cuts have all but eliminated ferry tourism,” the economics report said, stating the obvious.

The numbers are even uglier when you look at total ferry passenger loads into Wrangell — visitors and locals. From almost 10,000 in 1990, the count fell to just 1,400 in 2024.

With just one weekly ferry stop in each direction, it’s too hard for travelers to schedule any sort of reasonable timeline to visit communities in Southeast — or for local residents to use the ferries for school activities, medical or family visits.

Whereas Wrangell is doing a lot to attract independent air travelers and a manageable number of cruise ship passengers to town in hopes of boosting the economy, it looks like the ship has sailed on the summer ferry traveler.

“I don’t see a way to recuperate from that,” Economic Development Director Kate Thomas said.

Sad as it is, she is right. The best that Southeast can hope for is to hold on to the minimal level of service that is left.